I liked “The Town” too.
A classic:
Friends of Eddie Coyle
A contemporary:
The Social Network
Lumet:
The Verdict
Friedkin:
The Brink’s Job
Sturges:
Mystery Street
Yeah, Friends of Eddie Coyle is one of the best.
Next Stop, Wonderland
Thomas Crown Affair (original)
There are a lot of films set around Harvard like The Paper Chase but I’m not sure that’s what you want.
..
The Boston Strangler
Gone Baby, Gone
Mystic River
Thank you all for the replies….I have watched some of them listed above like The Verdict, Mystic River, Social Network. And ARI, I’m lookin into more of crime,drama genres and less of comedy; but anyway thanks mate!
Monument Ave(1998) by Ted Demme
Mystery Street (1950), by John Sturgis
John Ford’s The Last Hurrah (1958)
Brad Anderson’s Next Stop Wonderland (1998)
Norman Jewison’s The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
Friends..thanks again for the listing…but I would also like to know about some movies after, lets say,1995.
David O. Russell’s The Fighter (2010) is set in Lowell, MA, but it’s a very similar milieu.
@Elias, I just thought of one but it is set before 1995. Love Story with Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw.
Isn’t the movie Soul Man set at Harvard or is that another university?
Pardon me for repeating some of the films listed above but one could just type in “Movies set in Boston” on Google and end up with the following list, in alphabetical order:
21, a fictionalized account of the very-unofficial MIT Blackjack Team
Altered States, Ken Russell film based on Paddy Chayefsky’s novel
Between the Lines
Blown Away depicts the Boston Bomb Squad dealing with a mad bomber.
*Blue Hill Avenue, about four childhood friends from Dorchester who grow up to become drug dealers.
The Boondock Saints, about two Irish immigrant brothers in Boston who become vigilantes.
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, the sequel to The Boondock Saints in which the brothers are forced to return to Boston.
The Bostonians
The Boston Strangler, depicting a famous serial killer, played by Tony Curtis
The Brink’s Job, about the famous robbery of the Brinks security transport in the North End.
Celtic Pride, about two die-hard Boston Celtics fans.
Charly, based on Flowers for Algernon, about a mentally challenged man who receives treatment for his disability.
A Civil Action, about several families who attempt to sue a company for dumping toxic waste that gave their children leukemia. Filmed all over Boston, ironically not in Woburn, where it takes place, but in Palmer, Massachusetts.
Coma is set at the fictional Boston Memorial Hospital.
The Core, an early scene when people with pacemakers mysteriously drop dead during Green World Day. It is later known that the core stopped rotating.
The Departed, Martin Scorsese’s 2006 hit film, takes place in Boston with prominent use of Boston landmarks and culture. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture 2006.
Dirty Tricks, 1981 film starring Elliot Gould as a Harvard professor involved in an historical crime caper.
Edge of Darkness, the 2010 crime thriller starring Mel Gibson.
The 2005 remake of Fever Pitch, is about a man’s obsession with the Boston Red Sox.
Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella’s journey takes him through Boston to fetch Terence Mann and attends a game at Fenway Park
The Forbidden Kingdom, a martial arts comedy-drama about a Boston boy who enters a Chinese fantasy world, with Jet Li and Jackie Chan
The Firm, a film in which the opening takes place at Harvard.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle, a drama about an aging mob gun runner from Quincy who has to choose whether or not to inform on his Irish Mob friends to avoid jail time.
Fuzz, Detectives from Boston’s 87th Precinct’s investigating a murder-extortion racket run by a mysterious deaf man.
Gone Baby Gone, directed by Ben Affleck, takes place and was filmed in Boston.
Good Will Hunting takes place in Boston: the characters live in South Boston, and some other action is set at Harvard and M.I.T.
Harvard Man, a basketball player strikes a deal with the mob to fix a basketball game.
Heaven’s Gate, exterior Harvard scenes filmed at Oxford University
Home Before Dark (1958), set in Boston and Cape Cod, is adapted from the novel by Eileen Bassing; original negative is lost
Housesitter
Ice Princess, Takes place in Worcester, MA around the Greater Boston area about a physics geek who dreams of becoming a professional ice skater and gets an offer to go to Harvard but turns down that offer.
Johnny Tremain, 1957 Disney film based on the same named novel.
Knowing
The Last Detail, about two United States Navy policemen who decide to take out a young sailor for one last night on the town (through Boston’s Combat Zone) before he goes to jail.
The Last Hurrah
Legally Blonde, about a UCLA Valley Girl that attempts to get her boyfriend back by entering Harvard Law School.
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, takes place in Boston, as seen on the envelope at the end of the movie. Specifically, “28 Prospero Place, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.”
Little Children, Set in a fictional suburb of Boston.
Love Story
The Matchmaker
Malcolm X, Malcolm’s Boston years are chronicled in this film, including his prison years, which led to his eventual conversion to Islam.
Mona Lisa Smile, featuring Julia Roberts as a nonconformist Wellesley College professor.
Monument Ave., a film about low-level Charlestown gangsters dealing with the repercussions that arise due to the code of silence.
My Best Friend’s Girl
Mystery Street
Mystic River, an Oscar-winning drama about three childhood friends who later reunite after the murder of one of their daughters. Set in a fictional area of Boston called “Buckingham Flats”. Filmed in East Boston and South Boston
The Next Karate Kid has primary scenes set in the Boston area and was filmed partly in Brookline, MA.
Next Stop Wonderland takes place in Boston and the MBTA station Wonderland takes special significance.
Night School
Now, Voyager
Once Around
The Paper Chase *, a film about a student struggling through Harvard Law School, based on the 1970 novel. (John Houseman won an Oscar for his role as Prof. Kingsfield).
*The Proposal
Prozac Nation, about a young woman who struggles with depression during her first year at Harvard.
Shutter Island, a thriller staring Leonardo Dicaprio takes place on an island in the Boston Harbor.
Sacco and Vanzetti, about the famous anarchists convicted of murder.
A Small Circle of Friends, about Harvard in the 1960s and three students bonding together.
Soul Man, a comedy about a man who poses as a black scholarship winner in order to attend Harvard Law School.
Starting Over, a romantic comedy starring Burt Reynolds about a recent divorcee who relocates to Boston to restart his life.
Southie, a drama about a man who returns to Southie after leaving for several years to get away from the violence of the gangster life.
The Social Network, a drama about the creation of the popular social networking site Facebook, many scenes are set on the Harvard campus.
The Spanish Prisoner
Still We Believe: The Boston Red Sox Movie, a documentary chronicling the 2003 baseball season of the Boston Red Sox.
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
Surrogates, a futuristic police thriller starring Bruce Willis.
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), about a wealthy businessman who robs banks for excitement.
Titicut Follies, a Fred Wiseman documentary about Bridgewater State Hospital near Boston, and the lives of its mental patients.
The Town, starring Ben Affleck
The Verdict, a legal drama about an alcoholic Boston lawyer.
Vig (Money Kings), about an honest man who has to become a bookie.
War of the Worlds, film adaptation of the novel. The film ends with Tom Cruise and his kids finally reaching Boston where his ex-wife lives.
What’s the Worst That Could Happen?, about a rich man who catches a thief burglarizing his Boston home and steals the thief’s lucky ring, which the thief then tries to get it back.
Walk East on Beacon!
With Honors (1994) With Brendan Fraser & Joe Pesci, about a Harvard student (Fraser) who loses the only copy of his thesis, traces it to a basement where it has been found by a homeless man (Pesci) who trades pages of the thesis for food and shelter.
X2: X-Men United, X-Men sequel, in which two scenes take place in Boston. Boston is the home of Bobby Drake, alias Iceman.
Yellow Lights, a college drama that takes place at Wellesley College as well as a fictional college set in Newton, Massachusetts
House of the Damned, all of the interior shots were done in the house of the director, Sean Weathers, in Brooklyn, NY. However Weathers wanted a different feel for the exteriors so he and his cinematographer drove out to Boston to re-shoot the exteriors months later without the actors.
Zookeeper, shot at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo.
As Matt Damon says in Good Will Hunting, “How do you like them apples?!”
Very funny, Dr.
Thanx a lot Mr.Tomasulo..
The Friends of Eddie Coyle is my personal favorite. Brilliant film!
Elias, Aju
Hey guys. Could anyone please suggest some movies based in Boston. (What I meant was, movies in which, the story happens in Boston). I really kind of like the atmosphere created around in movies such as Good WIll Hunting and The Departed. So any other such good movies?